“One night I was at home knitting and watching television and my focus went to a picture of my stepfather and my mother. The idea just came to me then. I wondered if I could knit hats and donate them to children,” Patterson said.

Now, 6 years later, she’s made almost 2 thousand hats.

Donating them to children with cancer across the country.

“If I can put a smile on the face of a child then I’ve done what I wanted to do. That makes me happy and I know that makes Charlie happy,” Patterson said.

Even including her mom on every project. Because, as she puts it, Charlie would have wanted her too.

“When I knit the hats I take them to my mom. I ordered labels that say ‘For the love of Charlie’ and she sews them into each hat,” Patterson said.

It’s a project that allows her to feel closer to a man that sacrificed so much for her family.

A man that taught her valuable life lessons.

Lessons she wants cancer patients to embrace.

“Just a little bit of confidence, hope, security,” Patterson said. “It’s just encouraging the kids to keep fighting. Hoping that there’s people out there that care.”